by Liza Palmer
";Mr. Lord.' Star-Lord is fine." Quill gave Mantis and Drax a nod and they stepped forward.
Tony addressed the group. "We gotta coalesce. 'Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude—"
"Dude, don't call us plucky. We don't know what it means." Quill said. Tony glared at Quill. How could this be getting worse? "All right, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except, it sucks—so let me do the plan and that way it might be really good."
"Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe," Drax said proudly.
"What dance-off?" Tony asked. "It's nothing," Quill lied.
"Like in Footloose, the movie?" Peter Parker asked.
"Exactly like Footloose. Is it still the greatest movie in history ?" Quill asked, awestruck. "It never was." Parker's flippant, careless words struck Quill in the heart. "Don't encourage this, all right?" Tony said to the newest Avenger. "Okav," Peter whispered.
"We're getting help from Flash Gordon here," Tony said under his breath.
"Flash Gordon?" said Quill. "By the way, that's a compliment. Don't forget I'm half human. So that fifty* percent of me that's stupid, that's one hundred percent of you." "Your math is blowing my mind," Tony fired back, before Mantis interrupted. "Excuse me, but does your friend often do that?" she asked, pointing to Doctor Strange.
Strange was seated cross-legged, floating m midair. His hands were formed m a strange gesture and the Time Stone shone bright green. Most disturbing, however, was how quickly his head was moving back and forth. It was so rapid his face was a blur.
"Strange? We all right?" Tony called up to him.
Just as they walked up to him, the frantic motion stopped as his body crashed to the ground. Tony bent down to help him up, just as Strange had done back m Ebony Maw's now-destroyed ship. Slowly coming out of his trance. Strange placed his hand on Tony's shoulder, raising himself to a seated position. He was breathmg heavily, as though he had just awoken from a nightmare. "You're back," Tony assured him. "You're all right." "Hi," Strange groaned to Tony, collecting himself.
"Hey, um, what was that?" Spider-Man asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Trying to regain his composure. Doctor Strange addressed the group. "I went forward in time to view alternate futures." He took a slight gasp, the effort and his visions having clearly taken much out of him. 'To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."
Quill broke the silence as he nerv ously asked, "How many did you see?"
"Fourteen million, six hundred and five," Strange answered.
Tony, afraid to ask, voiced the only thing on anyone's mmd. "How many did we win?"
Strange took a long time to answer His eyes locked on Tony. His voice was hoarse when he spoke the smgle word that put an end to whatever power struggle had been happening between the two of them, the Guardians, or anyone else.
"One."
On the other side of the universe floated a lonely planet and its single moon, orbiting a dark sun: Vormir. Long devoid of life, any claims to glory the planet once had were now gone. There was only one reason anyone came to Vormir. The dark sky with a crimson tint caused by a slow solar eclipse happenmg backlit the mountain peak m the distance. Even though it was miles away on foot, Thanos and Gamora could still see the two towers built high on the top of the mountam.
"The Stone had better be up there. For your sister's sake," Thanos swore.
After a long trek up the mountain, the father and daughter came to the mouth of what appeared to be a cave. The darkness shifted in the wind and revealed it was actually a tunnel. "Welcome, Thanos, son of A Lars. Gamora, daughter of Thanos," came a voice from the darkness. "You know us?" Thanos called out to the voice.
"It is my curse to know all who journey here." An ethereal floating figure appeared, roughly the size of a human man, robed, its face hidden by the hood. "Where is the Soul Stone ?" Thanos asked, not wanting to play games when he was so close to achieving what had evaded so many others. If the tales were true. "You should know," the voice said, like a dark storm, "it exacts a terrible price." Thanos stepped forward. "I am prepared."
"We all think that at first." With that, the figure pulled back its hood, revealing the hollowed scarlet face of Red Skull beneath. "We are all wrong."
With that. Red Skull led them through the tunnel and between the two towers to a ritualistic temple. It lay in ruins, boulders having crushed parts of it. Storms and lightning had scorched the ground and walls. "How is it you know this place so well?" Thanos asked.
"A lifetime ago, I, too, sought the Stones. I even held one in my hand. But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess." Red Skull led Thanos and Gamora to a sharp cliff, the bottom of which was too far down to see. As Thanos and Gamora carefully stepped closer. Red Skull continued, "What you seek lies m front of you. As does what you fear."
"What is this?" Gamora asked, her voice catchmg in her throat as she looked over the cliff's edge.
"The price. Soul holds a special place among the Infinity Stones. You might say it has a certain wisdom," Red Skull answered. "Tell me what it needs." Thanos had waited long enough.
"To ensure that whoever possesses it understands its power, the Stone demands a sacrifice." "Of what?" Thanos asked.
"In order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love."
Thanos turned away from the cliff's edge to look back at Red Skull. He'd already sacrificed so much. What could the Stone possibly take that he hadn't already lost? "A soul for a soul."
At these words, Thanos's eyes began to well with tears.
Gamora began laughing. It felt good, if just for this moment, to know she could still laugh. Thanos had robbed her of such frivolous emotions her whole life, but now to smile and feel this swell of fairness and relief made Gamora believe that maybe... maybe she had a shot. Maybe she could have a future filled with love after all. She thought of Quill and her heart soared. She'd rescue Nebula and free her. And maybe Nebula would even want to
join their little dysfunctional family back on the Guardians' ship. Drax and Mantis. Rocket and Groot. Gamora was so different from her father. She'd known love. She'd found a family. And: as messy as it was certainly going to be, for the first time in her life, Gamora felt hope.
Gamora began to speak. "All my life I dreamed of a day, a moment, when you got what you deserv ed. And I was always so disappointed." She stepped toward Thanos, looking him directly in the eye. "But now... You kill and torture and you call it mercy." She gave a bitter laugh. "The universe has judged you. You asked it for a prize, and it told you no. You failed. And do you wanna know why? Because you love nothing. No one."
Thanos turned to face Gamora, tears streaming down his face. "No."
Gamora scoffed. "Really? Tears?"
Red Skull's haunting voice echoed across the still land. "They're not for him."
Looking at Red Skull, a realization began to set in for Gamora. Her mmd went blank. Her hope vanished. Her joy evaporated. Her future—no. Disbelief. Rage. How could this be happening? She looked up at Thanos m a fury.
Thanos advanced on Gamora.
"No," she said, shakily. "This isn't love."
"I ignored ray destiny once. I cannot do that again. Even for you." Thanos's words choked m his throat.
Gamora hung her head. This was all her fault. She had let herself be taken m by this monster, let him form a bond with her that was enough for him to call it love. This was all her fault. She looked up at him. Boldly. There was no hope for her now.
All she could do was make this right.
Quickly, Gamora reached into Thanos's vest, grabbed his knife and, with all her might, drove it into her chest. But before the knife could penetrate her skin, it disappeared, bubbles floating up from her hands mstead. She watched them fly away, and her last vestige of hope with them.
"I'm sorry, little one," Thanos said, tears still streaming down his face. He grabbed Gamora by the arm and dragged her toward th
e edge of the cliff. She fought him bravely, punchmg and scratching and kicking to free herself. With every blow she landed, Thanos wept. Finally, unable to take the pain of losing the one thing he loved for a moment longer, he flung his daughter over the side of the cliff. As she fell, she reached up for him, calling out to him. He watched m stunned silence as her body hit the slate gray slab hundreds of feet below, landing like a broken rag doll.
A bright white light flashed, illuminating the sky, blmding Thanos and transporting him to another space and time. Tranquil and motionless, the world felt like a dream. The power of the Soul Stone was released. Thanos lifted himself from a shallow pool of water, a glowing, golden-orange Stone now sitting m his hand.
"Drop to 2,600, heading zero-three-zero/: Cap said to Sam.
"I hope you're right about this," Sam said, as he set the coordinates of the Qumjet toward what looked to be the side of a mountain. "Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
The Qumjet sped up: aiming itself directly into the mountainside. But as Sam braced himself for impact, the Quinjet passed though the rock surface and beyond a beehive-like transparent dome to the Kingdom of Wakanda that was hidden behind it.
The great nation of Wakanda, a technological marvel the world had never heard of until recently, had spent the past two days preparing for war. Not just any war, though. They had recently faced a war that had threatened their own nation from within, and survived it; but this threat could destroy more than just their nation—this was an intergalactic threat with the fate of trillions hanging in the balance. And Wakanda was gomg to be Ground Zero of the battle that decided the fate of half the beings in the universe.
"When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world, this is not what I imagined," Okoye muttered under her breath as she and T'Challa advanced briskly to meet their arriving guests. T'Challa's Dora Milaje followed closely behind the duo as they strode across the tarmac.
"And what did you imagine?" T'Challa asked, his playful smile spreading.
"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks."
The Qumjet touched down on the royal landing pad and the occupants streamed out. Steve Rogers led the group, lockmg eyes with his old friend.
"Should we bow?" Banner asked Rhodev under his breath.
"Yeah, he's a king," Rhodev said.
Steve and T'Challa greeted each other warmly. "It seems I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said, extendmg his hand. T'Challa took it and the two shook in a warm grasp; an unspoken bond of mutual respect earned on the field of battle existed between them. Now, once again, they stood on such a field. Banner cleared his throat as he began to kneel.
"We don't do that here," T'Challa remonstrated him gently. Banner looked over accusingly at Rhodev, who couldn't help but smile.
"So, how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa asked Cap.
Bruce stepped forward. "Sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault."
"How we looking?" Natasha asked, inquiring about T'Challa's defenses. T'Challa nodded, calculating in his mmd. "You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." His voice trailed off as he noticed Steve Rogers's gaze shift to something behind him.
Someone.
"And a semi-stable hundred-year-old man," said Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier's prosthetic arm was now equipped with Vibranium technology, courtesy of T'Challa. Steve thought that Bucky looked well. More important, he looked calm. His eyes had a sense of clarity to them that Steve hadn't seen in years. He looked like the old Buck}* Barnes that Steve first knew back m Brooklyn all those years ago. He'd gotten his best friend back.
Cap's eyes lit up as he approached Bucky, pulling his friend mto a tight hug, a genuine smile stretched across his face. The first in a long time. "How you been, Buck?"
Bucky grinned back. "Not bad... for the end of the world."
Deep in the heart of Mount Bashenga was the central brain system of Wakandan technology—both literally and figuratively. The Wakandan Design Group was responsible for what made Wakanda the most advanced society on the planet. The head of the group, a young girl who happened to be the princess of Wakanda and T'Challa's sister—Shuri—was the brains behind practically even* design.
"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri said to the assembled group of Avengers who were huddled in her lab. While she examined the Mmd Stone's connection on Vision's head, Vision was lying on a surgical table in the center of it all. Shuri used a Kimoyo bead to scan Vision and the Mind Stone, projecting a holographic image of the intricate pattern that the Stone had traced to embed itself in Vision's brain.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron nonsequentiallv," Bruce explained.
Banner was trying to hide his awe at the young woman's genius...and his envy of the lab's technology. The scientist in him was in heaven, and he was finally able to contribute to the fight in an active way. "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri asked, as if it was the simplest of processes. Vision looked from Shuri to Banner. "Because we didn't think of it." Banner blushed. "I'm sure you did your best," Shuri said charitably.
Wanda took Vision's hand and looked nervously at Shuri. "Can you do it?"
The young genius looked around to all assembled. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shun looked to T'Challa. "It will take time, brother." T'Challa nodded, understanding the magnitude of what Shuri was saying.
"How long?" Steve asked, a promise in his voice that he would personally ensure that Shuri had the time she needed.
"As long as you can give me," she replied.
At that moment, Okoye's bracelet lit up. Tappmg one of the Kimoyo beads, a holograph appeared. She steeled her eyes as she looked around the room. "Something's entered the atmosphere." The war had begun.
"Hey, Cap. We've got a situation here," Sam said, as he and Bucky- watched a plume of smoke trace from high above while a monolith of a ship descended just overhead. The ship hit the shields above the Golden City-—the capital of Wakanda—and exploded.
"God, I love this place," Bucky observed in awe, looking at the glitching blue-hued Wakandan defense system.
"Don't start celebrating yet, guys. We've got more incoming outside the dome," Rhodey radioed.
A second volley of ships landed outside the dome, their sharp ends piercing the ground like spikes, causmg the land around the dome to look as though it were under siege by an armada of multistory square columns.
The tremors that followed were felt all over Wakanda and the trees began to quake. The unmistakable sound of an army on the march grew closer and closer.
"It's too late," Vision said to those in the lab. He began to climb off the table, his earlier plan seeming to be the most logical m his mind. "We need to destroy the Stone now."
"Vision, get your butt back on the table," Black Widow barked.
"We will hold them off," the Black Panther assured him.
Everyone save Shuri, Vision, and the Scarlet Witch turned to leave. "Wanda, as soon as that Stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell," Cap said. He squeezed her shoulder for moral support.
"I will," she promised.
The Black Panther turned to Okoye. "Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses," he ordered. Then, pointing to Steve Rogers, he added, "And get this man a shield."
Back on Nidavellir, Rocket flew the pod away from the forge and toward the dead star. As they hovered over the frozen rings, Thor stood outside of the pod, a cable tied around his waist.
"I don't think you get the scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you're going to need something a lot bigger to yank em loose," Rocket warned, hovering just above the frozen rings. Thor leaped down from the pod and onto the rings.
"Leave it to me," Thor said, gripping the cable.
"Leave it to you? Buddy, you're in space. All you got is a rope and a—" Rocket was cut off by a powerful w
hipping noise as Thor began to swing the pod around with the might of a Thunder God.
"Fire the engine!" Thor yelled, and Rocket did as he was told, firing the pod s engmes as high as they could go, pulling Thor along behind it. Thor skidded along the frozen ring, finally digging his heels into the metal and hanging on to the cable for dear life.
"More power, rabbit!" Thor dug in his heels and let the tiny pod's power force the frozen rings to move. Rocket pushed the pod harder than he ever had, his face contorted in pure effort and concentration while the ship whined beneath him in protest. Thor let out a primal scream as the ice that had formed around the frozen ring's mechanisms began to crack and yield. A deep rumble issued from beneath Thor as the frozen rings yawned to life. The rings aligned and the brilliant light of the once-dead star shone like a beacon of hope throughout the universe.
"Well done, boy," Eitri said, amazed at the once-again bright, shining star.
Thor jumped onto the pod and pressed himself agamst the windshield. "That's Nidavellir! " Thor yelled to Rocket through the windshield of the little pod that could. Rocket gazed upon the brilliant star in speechless awe.
A beam of light shot from the star, through the now aligned rings and straight into the heart of the forge. Eitri gazed around, as the forge came to life once again. For a few seconds, all was well.
Until something went wrong, and the beam of light disappeared. Once again, the forge went cold.
"Dang it," Eitri spat out.
"Dang it? What's dang it?" Rocket asked.
"The mechanism is crippled," Eitri explained.
"What?" Thor asked.
"With the iris closed, I can't heat the metal," Eitri explamed.
"How long will it take to heat it?" Thor asked, exhaustion evident m his tone.
"A few mmutes? Maybe more. Why?" Eitri answered.
"I'm going to hold it open." Thor stood, readying himself for another round. "That's suicide," Eitri warned.
"So is facing Thanos without that ax:" Thor bit back, resolved. And with that, Thor leaped into the center of the iris.